A romantic theme!

Last week I managed to achieve my aim with the Heirloom Wedding Sampler.  All of the Kloster blocks and other foundation work for the Hardanger section was completed by the end of Wednesday evening.

So what was I to do? I didn't want to do any more on this because, as I've mentioned before, stitching with white on white is hard work.  I had a late evening in school on Thursday and on Friday I was off across The Pennines to stay with my fiancee for the weekend.  So, like you do, I started something new!

As you can see I also finished it. This is the Potpourri Heart from The Sweetheart Tree.  This came in kit form and is stitched with DMC floss on 32ct opalescent raw linen.  The actual design is less than 4" x 4" and is really delicate. I might splash out and get this one framed professionally.

The reason for braving what turned out to be a horrendous journey on Friday evening, there was so much snow on one stretch of the M62 that they closed it, too late for me I was already trying, with difficulty to get through that bad section, was to go to York to pick up our wedding rings from the jeweller.

No prizes for guessing which one will belong to me!  This is the photo I like.

I'm sure there's something symbolic about it.

Back to Christmas stitching this week, fingers crossed Joy to the World will be finished, if not then nearly.

Happy stitching!

Next up is the hardanger!

I was pleased with my progress on White Nights last week. With three late-ish evenings at work and two nights of wedding stuff sorting This was my progress after two evenings stitching.

Over the weekend I was able to do a little more on my Heirloom Wedding Sampler but I noticed, when I had completed the first row Algerian Eyelets, (the second to last row on the photograph) that I had counted wrongly and was one thread out.  Where was the mistake? On the previous row so yesterday afternoon there was a major attack of the frogs as I had to unpick most of the weekend's work. Anyway, I managed to stitch it all back up and some more last night.

The next part is the big Hardanger section.  I am still yet to decide what to do on this, my fourth and final rotation week, so for now I am carrying on with this.  Mind you stitching with white on white is hard work and quite often I have to use the magnifier so I might intersperse the sampler with White Nights.  The again I might be tempted to start this.

It's the Finery of Nature, part of the Gold Collection by Dimensions. I have had this in the stash for years and was reminded of this kit when I saw that Daffycat has started it over on her blog. Anyway I haven't decided what to do but it is here on the sofa trying to tempt me!


Happy stitching!

A change of plan

So last week on the rotation it was the turn of White Nights. This was my progress after one evening's stitching.

I say one evening's stitching because, as the post title suggests, there was a change of plan. I had visitors from Tuesday until Friday and White Nights with it's frame etc is on the large side to have out, so that gave me the excuse to start something new.  I started , and finished, It's Fright Night from Poppy Kreations. 

This was stitched as charted on the recommended fabric, 28ct hand dyed Jobelan, Stormy Grey, using the overdyed floss suggested. I have the bespoke frame for this so you will see it again when it comes back from the framers.  There was no progress made on the Heirloom Wedding Sampler this week but I'm hoping to do some more at the weekend.

This week, to make up for last, it's back to White Nights.

Happy stitching!

Thursday's post on Sunday!

So, totally forgotten by me was that I had to attend a presentation evening at school on Thursday evening, hence, no post and no stitching.  The rest of the week was not as bad for stitching.  At Christmas I my Mum gave my sister and me a Kreinik Stitch-A-Pen kit. Mine was Silver Snowflakes. Here it is stitched up.

And here it is inside the pen.

Before Christmas I bought a copy of Cross Stitcher magazine because I liked the cover kit which was some cross stitch gift tags. I have stitched four out of six of them.

I changed the Aida in the kit for 28cout antique white linen which made doing the fractional stitches easier.  This week was Christmas week on the rotation so as well as finishing of these gift tags, which I will use as tree decorations, I managed to put a few stitches into Mill Hill's Buttons and Beads Winter Series, Joy to the World.

To be truthful the Heirloom Wedding Sampler has had quite a lot of time spent on it tis week, well I am working to a deadline.  Here are the latest progress pics.

I changed the type of letter and the colour from that suggested on the chart.

I'm really enjoying doing this project. There are only two, maybe three more rows to do before the Hardanger section at the bottom. The embellished heart is the next thing to do at the top but that will be the last thing I do as I don't want the stitching to get squashed in the scroll bars.  This week its back to White Nights.

Happy stitching!



The final finishes of 2011, the first of 2012 and a Wedding Sampler!

Happy New Year to everyone.  Just a quick post as this is the last day of the holidays and I want to get in as much stitching as possible.

Before Christmas I finished the Silvery Tree from the Mill Hill Festival of Trees series.

My Mum gave me a stitching project on Christmas Day. I don't usually see my family until New Year, and this Christmas Day sewing project has become a bit of a tradition. This year it was Santa's Sleigh Ride by JBW Designs.

This was stitches as charted with a mixture of the recommended Weeks Dye Works floss and DMC alternatives on the 28 count Antique White Opalescent linen provided in the kit.  I did Santa's beard in cross stitch instead of the recommended French knots.

My first finish of 2012, completed this morning, is The Pink Snowman from Shepherd's Bush.  If you remember, I left the original kit on the train, but fortunately not the stitching itself!  Anyway a replacement kit arrived from America just before Christmas so I have been able to finish it sooner that I thought.

This Year the rotation is back, and Farmville on Facebook has been blocked, as this was seriously eating into stitching time!  At the moment to rotation is looking like it is going to be White Nights, a Christmas project, a Halloween project, and something I haven't decided on yet, each for a week.

For Christmas my Mum gave me the stuff to do the Heirloom Wedding Sampler from The Victoria Sampler. Here are some photos of my progress so far.

As I am getting married on April 7 and I want to have this completed before 'the big day' the rotation may not quite work to plan as I will need to do a little on this every week.  This is what I will be working on for the rest of today. Hopefully more progress photos of this weeks stitching on Thursday.

Happy Stitching!

Happy Christmas!

A different type of stitching?

Today I finished my final Christmas ornament, another Santa from The Prairie Schooler. I've stitched this one five times now!  I ran out of gold beads so two of them were finished with green ones.

My gift from 'Secret Santa '  this year was a small stitching project which I started yesterday and finished today, Appropriately most of this was stitched on a train. I made sure I left nothing behind this time!  I'm not sure how I will finish this one.  At the moment I'm thinking of buying a paperweight, I think Framecraft do them, and finishing it that way.  I changed the aida for linen but apart from that this was stitched as charted. The design is called Steam Train and it is from a company called Mouseloft.

My next piece of train stitching will be The Silvery Tree from the Mill Hill Festival of Trees series. This is the last one to stitch as I did the other five last year. As you can see I've made a small start.

The cross stitching may take a back seat over Christmas and New Year as I have a different stitching project to do.

Yes, it's Sara Lund's red jumper from the second series of the Danish thriller 'The Killing'.  Only as you can see I'm doing mine in a teal like colour, not red. 

This is likely to be my last post before Christmas and possibly until the New Year.  Next year the rotation is back!

Until then I hope everyone has a great Christmas and a happy New Year.

Pink Snowman disaster!

A couple of weekends ago, whilst away from home, I made a start on the Pink Snowman from Shepherd's Bush. There was quite a lot going on that weekend; what with my Dad's birthday and going for meetings at our wedding and reception venues. So, unfortunately, I was not able to complete this project in a weekend. I say unfortunately, because if I had, the following disaster might not have happened.  I put the snowman project on hold for the week and instead stitched White Nights in evenings. 

Last weekend I stayed at my fiance's so on the Thursday evening I packed my weekend stitching, the Pink Snowman and some smaller projects. On the train journey to his I did some stitching on one of the smaller projects. Before leaving the train I packed all my stuff away and checked I had left nothing behind, or so I thought.  The next morning I got the Pink Snowman out to stitch him but there was no chart and no floss, I did have the clay buttons.  A frantic search of his house followed and on Sunday one at my house in case I hadn't packed the chart in the first place, but no, the chart and the floss have gone. I must have left them on the train!  This is as far as I got.

So I am now waiting for a replacement kit to arrive!

White Nights has now been put away for December. The middle tower is finished except for the backstitching, beading and the one over one section at the base of the tower.

White Nights has been put on hold for December because, as promised, St Nicholas Tree Skirt, now officially a UFO has been taken out. This isn't quite where I left it at the start of the year as I managed to do a little stitching last night.

The next train journey is planned for a fortnight's time and I will be triple checking that I have not left anything behind!

Happy stitching!

Quick update

Firstly here is my latest progress pic of White Nights.

I have also managed to frame Catgirl & Catboy from Jardin Privé.  The frame came from Wilkinsons.  For the first time I have been able to keep the glass as usually the fabric stretched over the padded board is too thick for a shop bought picture frame.

I have also managed to stitch a small Christmas ornament from The Prairie Schooler.

This was stitched as charted using DMC floss on 28ct Lambswool linen. The chart was a freebie. 

I am thinking that there is only one week left on White Nights as in December  St Nicholas' Tree Skirt might get an airing.

Happy stitching!

Purple is done, pink, red, bue and green still to go!

I'm talking about the snowman series from Shepherd's Bush.  This weekend was a weekend away. White Nights is too big to take anywhere so on Thursday evening it was a trip to the stash room to find something that could be stitched in a weekend. I was tempted with a Halloween project but I decided to go with the Purple Snowman.

Some progress was made with White Nights.

This week I will be continuing with White Nights.

Happy stitching!